an estimated 600,000 people in East teamour turned out in the baking heat for a mass with the visiting Pope Francis on Tuesday that's just under half the country's population making it proportionally one of the largest ever turnouts for Mass during a Papal visit a sea of yellow and white umbrellas mirroring the Vatican flag colors filled the tacu Esplanade the the only other Pope who has visited the country John Paul II celebrated mass in 1989 at the same site amid the country's fight for independence from Indonesia after a brutal 24e occupation that ended with formal Independence in 2002 East Tour now has a median age of 20 according to official estimates France has made note of the young crowd during mass this reality is revealed to be beautiful in East timore because there are so many children here you are a young country in which life is beating rapidly and bustling in every corner and the presence of each Youth and so many children is a gift it is a gift an immense gift earlier in the day Francis visited a school for children with disabilities in the capital city of Dilly there he blessed the children and thanked the school for its work sharing life with people who are in Greater need is a program for every Christian he said the pope stopan e teamour is part of an ambitious 12-day Four Country Asia Pacific tour the former Portuguese colony is a half island nation of 1.3 million people north of Australia it's also only one of two predominantly Catholic countries in Asia his visit came during the country's 25th anniversary of the vote for Independence and at times resembled something more like an enormous party Francis Nick travels to Singapore before returning to Rome on the 13th of September [Applause]